Hammontree Builders is committed to providing our customers with the latest practices and products that promote healthy living, energy efficiency and durable homes. This blog will reflect experiences and projects that encompass this greening of building and remodeling. This is all happening in Beautiful Northern Michigan.
Contact me at hammontreebuilders@gmail.com or
231-633-1370

Friday, February 14, 2014

Hammontree Builders is expanding our services! I can now offer a Visualization service. What does this mean? It means that if you have an idea and it is construction related, I can help.

What will that new deck look like?

Should it have benches?

New garage-attached or detached?

Crown Molding in dining room? What size?

The instances are endless!

For 5 years now, I've been able to show my customers during the planning and design stages what a given project will look like when complete. I'm able to show them options as we design together using SketchUp Pro. I've touted SketchUp before in a previous Post about its many features that work so beautifully with the construction industry. With SketchUp Pro you also get Layout which is a presentation software to not only create design concepts but also precise prints for permits. Using SketchUp Pro, I not only can do walk-throughs but show you design options in 3-D. I am offering this service to any or all of the following:

Homeowners that want to act as general contractors on their own home remodels or new-Builds.

Builders.

Kitchen Designers.

Although we would love it, you don't have to be a Hammontree Builders client.

First disclaimer:

I am not trying to replace your Architect or Designer. In fact, I have no formal training or degree to do any of that. Check with them, they may even work with SketchUp-more are every day. If not, I'd be happy to work with them to help.

I am a licensed Builder with 30 years of experience. I've been in business for 18 years and I have drawn prints for smaller projects and permit purposes. I've used Autosketch and SketchUp. There are 2 things that I have noticed working with clients over the years.

We all have difficulty seeing changes to our physical space with our mind's eye.

During every project there is a point that those changes, coupled with the design decisions that need to be made are overwhelming. And you don't want to be surprised once the job is done. Any changes now get expensive!

The ability to see what your remodel will look like when it is done is hard! Colors, placement of lighting, fixtures or appliances, all can be confusing. Sometimes a plan-view and pages of elevations don't inform you of what the changes really mean. I had a customer once that even though they had perspective and elevation drawings taped to the wall, they still were alarmed when I started laying out the cabinet placement. I was the installer on that job, not the salesperson or designer. These people had no idea what they had signed on for. I've touted SketchUp before in a previous Post about its many features that work so beautifully in the construction industry. With SketchUp Pro you also get Layout which is a presentation software to not only create design concepts but also precise prints for permits.

Some examples:

This first shows what SketchUp can do with its Match Photo capability.

Photo used to show before and for Match Photo in SketchUp

Concept showing hip roof Addition.

Design showing standard reverse gable Addition.

Built!

Want the ability to see how your project sits on the slope of your property? With SketchUp Pro and Google Earth, that is possible! (Examples below are work that I have done But are from Michael Brightman's fantastic book, "The SketchUp Workflow for Architecture").

Do you need to specify window installations? Or any other construction procedure?

Need prints? From SketchUp? From AutoCad? From graph paper? It can be done!